read 12 books in 2007

I’ve finished The Two Towers and Return of the King now. I love these books. I’ll read them again and again.

But not this year. It’s time for me to stop reading! I get so caught up in the other world, and i make reading a priority in my life, and now that I’ve read 19 books, it’s time for me to get on with other projects.

I’ll probably read more books this year, but I’d like to read some non-fiction, or some more old classics. But for a while I’m going to concentrate on playing the flute, and exercise.

I’ve still been reading, but i haven’t been posting! So now i have completed another 4 books;

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I’ve enjoyed them all immensely! I’m now reading The Two Towers. I love Tolkien!

I have completed my goal!

I read all the Harry Potter books that are out so far. I had thought i might like to do this before the last one came out, and when my mum came to visit on 23rd June, she brought the only book i was missing out of the series, the first one (i had misplaced my copy). I picked it up and started to read it, and then decided to just read them all…

It wasn’t hard, they are really easy to read books. It also helped that i was off work sick for 3 days last week, so that gave me ample reading time! I finished book 6 last night.

So i’ve completed my goal, but i think i’ll keep posting whatever books i read here, because it’s nice to have a record of what you have read in a year.

Last night i finished Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt.

A lovely but sad, funny but painful autobiography. This book is beautifully written, and though it is often heart-wrenching, it is always hopeful. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and hope to read his next book ‘Tis, in the future.

Photographing Fairies by Steven G. Szilagyi. Another good book, a quick read. Read it over the weekend. I quite enjoyed it.

4th was The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I really enjoyed this book, especially after Wild Swans. I think i was really able to appreciate the Chinese side of this book a lot more than i would have been if i had not read Wild Swans first.

5th was Shiver by Nikki Gemmel. A novel about Antarctica, and love, and learning about yourself. I liked this book too, read it all in a weekend. Not a challenging read, but worth it.

At the moment i am reading Authors Take Sides Iraq and The Gulf War edited by Jean Moorcroft Wilson and Cecil Woolf. It is a book in which the editors have written to writers, randomly chosen, and asked them about their opinions on the two wars. I have only just begun, but i think it will make interesting reading.

I finished Wild Swans by Jung Chang last night. This is an amazing book, an amazing story. Well worth reading.

On the weekend i finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I loved this book. It was a beautiful story about a boy and his life and the tale of his survival, beautifully written and very clever. I might re-read it one day. Very enjoyable.

I don’t really know what to read next. I have so many books to choose from, but i’m not quite sure what i feel like yet. I think i’ll have a few days rest.

Another book i’d like to read is Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I have seen the movie, which i enjoyed, but in my experience the book is always much better… Even Toby wants to read it, he loved the movie.

Last weekend i read Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier. I quite enjoyed it, and now i want to see the movie too. I like Scarlett Johansson. It was a quick and easy read, but an interesting story. And a great look at some of Johannes Vermeer’s paintings, as the edition i have has some colour prints of his work. I have not seen many of paintings before, so it was nice to have a look while i read this entertaining story (which actually has not much to do with the real life of the painter at all).

Now i am reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Not very far into it yet, but it’s interesting.

Still reading Alaska by James Michener, it’s really good, but sooo long. I felt i had to start on some other things to keep my quota up.

So, far, so good!

I have decided that i will stay with 12 books this year. After doing the same last year, i thought i would make my goal for more this year, but i have thought about it, and decided i would rather aim for 12, which i know i can easily and comfortably do, than aim for more (15, 20, 50?) and then either set myself up to fail, or not leave enough time for anything else this year. I mean, i can always keep going if i reach 12 before the end of the year!

So i have a few books i’d like to read this year, i’d thought i’d share them;

1. Alaska by James A Michener
2. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
4. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
5. The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien
6. The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien
7. 1984 by George Orwell

That’s already more than half of the books i am going to read this year, and i have a few more at home, that i can’t remember the titles of. Another James Michener one, and a couple of others my mum lent me. I’d also like to read Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but i’m not sure if i will. I’ll have to buy it, and besides, something else is bound to come my way between now and the next 12 books.

So of the books i am planning to read, i have started Alaska, and have in the past read The Hobbit countless times, and have had (most of?) The Lord of the Rings trilogy read to me by my mum when i was a kid.

I really loved Marquez’ book i read last year, and the same with Michener’s, so i plan to read them more this year, and although i have read 1984 before, it’s definitely worth reading again. I am the type of person who likes to read books more than once.